How to Draw D (from Vampire Hunter D)

In this tutorial, I will show you how to draw the newer version of D from the sequel to the original "Vampire Hunter D". The new character design is more interesting, IMO (though I still really like the original), mainly because the designs stay closer to the original sketches by Yoshitaka Amano, my favorite artist. ^_^ Anyway, begin by drawing a circle for the top part of the head. Next, draw the curved vertical guideline that goes from the top of the head to the chin, making sure to extend it all the way down to where his chin would be. Draw diagonal guidelines tangent to the circles, starting from the bottom of that vertical guideline you just drew. These will help you draw in the lower part of the face. His face is rather long and narrow, so don't make the lower half of the face too small. Draw the guidelines for the eyes, nose and mouth. Notice how close together they are; the eyes are very long and thin, and the nose and mouth are close together.

One thing I noticed when drawing this character is that don't always see both of his eyes because of the hat. With this particular pose, we can get away with drawing only one eye, which saves you the trouble of having to make sure the second one lines up correctly. ^_^ Draw his hat, which is very long and should cover up his left eye. Notice that it doesn't sit directly on top of his head; there has to be room for his hair, which we will draw later on. Draw his right eye, nose, mouth, ear, and give the left side of his face more definition so its not just a straight line like we drew in the previous step. All his features are very long and thin, which is more apparent in later steps. Make sure you don't just draw a straight line for his mouth; it should be slightly curved so you can see his lips (don't define them too much, though; the curve is very slight).

Next, start erasing some of the guidelines. Add detail to his eye, and draw the eyelid. Draw his shoulders and armor. His hair is very thick and wavy and should drape over his shoulders and obscure parts of his face. Really try to make the hair look nice and full, it will make quite a difference on your final picture. That thing on his left shoulder is a shoulderpad with a spike; if you could see both his shoulders, there would be an identical one on the other shoulder.

Erase all the guidelines, and add detail to his armor, hat, and clothes. Don't add too much detail to his hair at this point, unless you don't intend to color your picture. The contours of the hair will be defined by highlights in the final step, and if you draw a bunch of lines in the hair right now, it just makes it a pain to color later on. ^_^ Draw the hilt of his sword, as well. Erase all unnecessary guidelines and continue to the final step.

The coloring on this character is a little difficult. The base color for his hair, hat, and armor is almost exactly the same: a very dark black. You want to be able to tell the difference between each of these forms, though, so define the hair with highlights of dark brown, and define the armor with highlights of dark blue. Keep the color of his skin very pale; the highlights, shadows, and base tones are all shades of gray. ^_^

Next, we will draw the profile. Begin with a large circle for the top part of the head. Draw the lower half of the face as best as you can. Just get the shape down for now; you can add the rest of the details later. To get the shape of the lower half of the face, draw a very basic outline of the lower half using straight lines. Then go back and curve the lines inward where his nose should be (as shown with lighter red lines). Notice that his face is very long and narrow like in the 3/4 view. Draw the guidelines for the eyes, making them very close together (since his eyes are very narrow). Draw the guideline for his mouth, as well; it should be located right beneath his nose.

Next, refine the lower half of the face even further. His face is more realistic than other anime characters, so you have to be careful. Make the nose long and pointed, the lips well defined, and the chin curving out slightly. Also, draw the outline of the eye and the ear.

Next, draw his hat, armor, and hair. Notice that his hat still doesn't sit directly on top of his head. Draw his hair looking very full and somewhat wavy. Add detail to his eye, such as the iris, eyelid and eyebrow (which will be just barely visible under his hat). ^_^ Erase some of the guidelines.

Next, erase all the guidelines and add the final details. In this picture, I added details to his hair before coloring because I wasn't paying attention. I should not have done that, because it made it much harder to color. ^_^ If you are not going to color it, though, this is sort of what his hair should look like. Don't forget to draw the circle thing on his hat before refining your sketch and moving onto the final step.

Next, color your picture. Again, his hair, armor, and hat *must* be defined with highlights if you want them to stand out. His skin should be so pale that you are only using shades of gray. His face is covered in shadows because of the hat, so make it darker than usual except for the highlights along the edges of his face. Also, try to make the circle on his hat look sort of like a pearl. I'm not sure if its really a pearl, but on the original pics it sure looks like one... ^.^